Case Number 09485

THE LONGEST DAY

The Charge

"Believe me, gentlemen, the first 24 hours of the invasion will be
decisive. For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest
day...the longest day."

Opening Statement

Say you're producer Darryl Zanuck. You've produced films like Young Mr.
Lincoln and you helped start 20th Century Fox. Even though you might have
lost some power, producing a string of box office disappointments, you've
optioned this little book by a guy named Cornelius Ryan who documented a slew of
facts and items about D-Day and the Normandy invasion from the Allied and German
sides of battle. You think that this film will be great, and you call all the
good actors you can think of -- Wayne, Fonda, Burton, Mitchum, Steiger, the list
goes on and on. So how good is The Longest Day?

Facts of the Case

The following summation of events is from the film only, it's in no way
conveying (or intending to convey) events on June 6, 1944, as they exactly
occurred. There's the disclaimer; proceed onward dear reader.

The Longest Day covers an approximate 24 hour period starting the
night before the Normandy invasion as many high ranking officers question
whether the invasion should take place because of poor weather conditions. As
the invasion was postponed once before (and if postponed again, could possibly
not be done for another month), the go command is given. Dummy paratroopers
designed to explode on impact were created and deployed as a diversion so real
paratroopers could land in France. British and French forces were also used to
help secure French towns and bridges. And all of this before the Normandy
beaches were stormed...

On the opposing side, the Germans were aware of a possible invasion, but did
not know when it would occur or the scope of it. It was only when they could
intercept a French resistance message that would help put the final piece in the
puzzle. Even as paratroopers landed in France, there were numerous German calls
for tank support that went unreceived, as the order (which had to be approved by
Hitler himself) never came. Many German officers felt the invasion (and possibly
the war) was over before soldiers ever set foot on Omaha or Utah beaches as a
result, despite the heavy American casualties that were inflicted.

The Evidence

What The Longest Day managed to do that other films before it may not
have done as effectively was that it showed both sides of a war without making
any emotional judgment in either area. Any opinions appear to come from any
tactical or strategic decisions that are made. The Germans felt a
Normandy-centered invasion would be counter to conventional combat logic, and
even as there were reports of Allied force movement into France, many officers
appeared to dismiss them.

Directed in several segments by Ken Annakin (Battle of the Bulge),
Andrew Marton (King Solomon's Mines) and Bernhard Wicki (The
Visit), the film really shows you the scope of the production in a lot of
scenes, particularly Annakin's. There are a couple of sweeping shots, one of the
troops storming the beaches under German aircraft fire and another as some
French forces try to take a German post at Ouisterham that show just how much
effort and choreography was involved to make sure things worked the way they
should.

As far as the stars (or the proverbial galaxy in this case) go, The
Longest Day features a cast rivaled by few films. Even though he's only in
it for minutes, Henry Fonda (On Golden Pond) speaks volumes as a General
who is also the son of President Theodore Roosevelt, who wants to be part of the
invasion, despite his profile and pedigree. Others like Rod Steiger (In the
Heat of the Night) go almost unnoticed, while you recognize the ones that
went on to become huge stars, like a pre-James Bond Sean Connery. Richard
Burton's (Cleopatra) scenes as a flight officer mildly ruminate on the
madness of killing and war. A couple of performances do stand out from this
film. The first is Robert Mitchum (Cape Fear), who boldly stands on Omaha
beach with a cigar sticking out of his mouth like a Sergeant York figure that
barks out orders when necessary. Considering what a lot of people have relayed
about Omaha, to say that this may be an exaggeration may be a little generous.
The heart of the film (or closest thing to it) arguably may be with John Wayne
(The Searchers) as the Airborne Division Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort. He
shows some reservations about a nighttime jump with his commander (played by
Robert Ryan, The Wild Bunch), but has no hesitation when he finds out the
mission is a go. He breaks his ankle when landing but presses on, and when he
finds a company of his soldiers hanging from their parachutes dead, suspended
along some phone lines, he is clearly shaken by the visual, as we are. All in
all, megastars aside, The Longest Day is an ode to those who fought in
the war, and, more importantly, is reverential to those that didn't make it
back.

Fox has decided to put a second disc of extras on here to further enhance
the value. Things start with a 20-minute recollection on the production by
Annakin. Despite coming up on his 92nd birthday, Annakin has quite a few details
on the making of the film and his working relationship with Zanuck, and how he
wanted to keep to historical accuracy as much as possible. He also contributes a
commentary track that has more of this info as well. Along with this is a
History Channel look at the film called "History Through the Lens,"
but retitled "The Longest Day: A Salute to Courage." Narrated by Burt
Reynolds, this piece talks about Zanuck and his desire to keep things real, and
it includes biographical information on the producer and some coverage on his
service in both World Wars. This contains interviews with Zanuck's surviving
family, along with some of the cast and crew, and is contrasted by interviews
with paratroopers and Rangers. Some of the fact vs. fiction looks at key scenes
like the Omaha Invasion, St. Mere Eglise and Pointe du Hoc are discussed, and
the film was originally going to be a little bit more implicitly anti-war in its
original concept. These concepts however, were utilized by Steven Spielberg for
Saving Private Ryan and done to great emotional effect, so their
inclusion four decades prior would have been very interesting. The AMC
"Backstory" series did a look at the film that was a little redundant
in its material (to the point of using the same interview with Red Buttons), but
concentrated a little more on the film's realization to the screen. "D-Day
Revisited" is a look at Normandy hosted by Zanuck as the quarter century
anniversary of D-Day approached. He is upfront in the beginning about the piece,
as it's a lot of helicopter shots or stationary shots of various parts of
Normandy, and interspersed with clips from the film. At an hour, it's way
too long and at times, I wondered who this documentary was made for? When I
watched Zanuck discuss D-Day to a 22-year-old blonde French girl, I started to
feel a little creeped out. At the end of the day, I got the impression that it
was a really boring vacation film shown to a class of high school kids, but I
later realized what Zanuck was trying to do in showing how things looked at that
time, so I wasn't completely bitter.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

In recent years (or at least since Spielberg's film came out), The Longest
Day has been at the short end of some cynical jabs and even a little bit of
vitriol when it came to its portrayal of events at Omaha beach. The lack of
blood, the gung-ho soldiers charging the beach in ankle-high water, that's not
what happened, a lot of vets said. On the "Salute to Courage" piece,
it appears that the intent did exist for accuracy, but was rejected by the
studio because of the possible issue of people not being able to handle it. So
let's take things with that eye and understand that context, especially the next
time someone screams "Too soon!" when watching a film about Sept.
11.

Closing Statement

While perhaps not completely accurate in its historical events (and still
suffering from the overdramatic death by bullets), The Longest Day has
remained a powerful and lasting document on perhaps the most historical event in
the 20th century.

The Verdict

Zanuck's film remains great to this (and any other) remotely long day. Not
guilty.